


between two lungs it was released

by aceofdiamonds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24172060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofdiamonds/pseuds/aceofdiamonds
Summary: “Prophecy about saving the world?” Percy says, leaning back in his seat, leg folded, casual as he throws around weighty words. “Completed it, mate.”And Harry throws his head back, laughing and laughing, because here’s someone who has gone through everything he has and they’ve both made it through the other side. This is someone who gets it.harry and percy meet and realise they've lived the same life
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 34
Kudos: 310





	between two lungs it was released

**Author's Note:**

> eight weeks into lockdown and now is suddenly when i post something three nights in a row
> 
> i've been rereading percy jackson and wanted these two worlds to meet. there's probably going to be more bc you know what i'm like with crossovers
> 
> title is from between two lungs by florence and the machine

  
  


Harry Potter bumps into Percy Jackson on a random Tuesday in May in the middle of Greece. 

He’d come with Ginny for their three year anniversary, the year he’s finally started to feel like he has a life outwith his childhood responsibilities, the year he’s turned twenty one and felt too old and yet too young. 

They’d come to Greece to escape the madness that builds up around May and the memorials that have their hearts in the right place but can ask for too much. Harry wants to be there for everyone but he doesn't have that much to give before it leaves him trembling and his hands clenched. It had been Ginny’s idea to take themselves away for a bit and Harry had taken some convincing, he feels a duty to be there for ceremonies and remembrances and — well, he saw the point Ginny was making when he couldn't stop talking, his wand sparking, his body already tired, and so here they are, away from magic and having a week full of sun, sea, and anything else they can think to see or do. 

And it’s as he’d been standing here, admiring the water, waiting for Ginny to come back with ice cream, the water had exploded, shooting everywhere, soaking Harry, and a man had come shooting out of the sea, anything about taking time away from magic and excitement goes out he window. 

He thinks after all this time that he’s used to things like this, come on, he used to be able to talk to snakes, and he can fly, and he can make a stag come out of his wand if he wanted to, but somehow he can still be surprised. 

Especially when the man has landed on the shore and is now talking to creatures Harry doesn’t remember ever reading about in Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them. 

He knows the Greeks have their own strands of magic, of course, but this feels different. 

“What’re you staring at?” Ginny asks, handing him his cone, “and why are you soaking?” 

“Weird kid in the water,” he mutters, thanking her for the ice cream and for her understanding when she doesn’t question it and immediately follows his gaze. “I know you said we were having a quiet holiday —“

But Ginny is already dragging him by the hand over to the beach, adjusting her sunglasses before checking her wand is in her back pocket. “Let’s go.” 

The man jumps when they go up to him, and why wouldn’t he, when he’s having a private conversation and two people ambush you. He tells the creature, some sort of turtle, that he’ll talk to them later when it’s safe and not to go far, and then turns to Harry and Ginny. 

“Hey,” he says, wary, and American. “Nice day, isn’t it?” 

“Lovely,” Ginny replies, and then holds out her hand. “Ginny Weasley, witch,” and Harry laughs. 

So does the man. “Alright,” and then he shrugs, in for a penny in for a pound, an expression Harry knows so painfully well. “Percy Jackson, half-blood.” 

“Wait,” Harry says. “Half blood? Me too.” 

“Nice. Who’s your parent? Judging by how wet you are I’m going to guess we’re not brothers. Hephaestus? Not all his sons are ugly, you know. You seem powerful, gods, you’re not Zeus’s are you? I wouldn’t put it past him to break the pact again —“

“My parents are Lily and James — what’s that got to do with any of this?” As if the conversation has made sense up to this point. 

“Lily and James? What gods are they?”

Ginny sighs. “We’re getting nowhere here. Percy, this is Harry, he’s a wizard, all our parents’ were witches and wizards, as far as I’m aware we don’t have any gods — for the love of Merlin, what does half blood mean in your world?”

And Percy laughs and Harry feels immediately at ease. He holds his hand out again, shaking Harry’s this time, “I’m Percy and my dad is Poseidon.”

“The sea god,” Harry confirms, because he and Ginny did a tour this morning and learned all they needed to know about the Olympians. When Percy nods he says. “Okay, now we’re all on the same page —“

Percy sighs. “You’re going to ask me about Aspidochelone aren’t you?”

  
  
  


.

  
  
  
  


So it turns out they have a lot in common. 

They find a bar (“Can we stay in the area?” Percy asks. “Annabeth’s doing a dig nearby and we don’t have cell phones”) and discuss their worlds over beers, comparing everything from creatures to near death experiences to magical foods.

“Prophecy about saving the world?” Percy says, leaning back in his seat, leg folded, casual as he throws around weighty words. “Completed it, mate.”

And Harry throws his head back, laughing and laughing, because here’s someone who has gone through everything he has and they’ve both made it through the other side. This is someone who _gets_ it. 

“Tell me more about your mark of Achilles,” he asks, finishing his beer. The sun is warm on his face and he can tell Ginny is enjoying this bizarre chat as much as he is and he knows they came here to get away from it all but now he can’t stop talking and talking about being marked from birth and mentors and quests. 

“Well it’s gone now, washed away from carrying Hera across the water. She was Juno at the time but once a Greek always a Greek, you know? I’ve almost lost Annabeth to the Roman side of it all, though, s’why I convinced her to do the dig here, remind her of where she came from.”

“It must be amazing having all this history that you know you’re a part of,” Ginny says, looking around her. They’ve been good, the two of them, since the end of the war, fitting back together through their grief and their trauma and their passion, and they’re both happy back home, but Harry can see the way Greece is sinking into Ginny, the peace she feels as she tilts her head to take in the ruins. “Yeah my family is one of the oldest wizarding families in Britain but did they build architecture that would be studied thousands of years later?” 

“Wait till Annabeth gets here if you want the full story,” Percy says, grinning. “I still only know the heroes’ stories, not enough about what they actually left behind.” He leans forward. “So, what’s the deal with brooms? Is that a stereotype or can you actually fly? Because I was always convinced Thalia could and she just didn’t want to show me.” 

And that has Ginny launching into how Quidditch works and who plays what and what teams she and Harry both play for, a friendly rivalry at home. Percy’s eyes get wider and wider, fidgeting with his beer bottle, and Harry knows he’s desperate to play, if he could ever be allowed in the sky. He sits back in his chair and watches Ginny’s hands move, “Stop me when I’ve bored you,” she’s saying now but Percy is enraptured and Harry, who knows the sport inside out, could sit and listen to her all day. “I mean, yeah, it’s dangerous,” she laughs at Percy’s question, “but that’s part of the thrill of it.”

“And you both play professionally?” 

A blonde woman appears at that point, waves hi, before dropping into the seat beside Percy, taking the fact that he’s with two strangers with ease. 

“Annabeth,” Percy exclaims, kissing her on the cheek, then gesturing across the table. “This is Harry and Ginny, they’re magical,” which is a very whimsical way of putting it -- Harry catches Ginny’s grin. “Wait here, I’ll go get us a beer,” and he’s off.

“Yes he’s always that excited,” Annabeth says dryly, and then she smiles. “So what have I missed? Where are you from? What sort of magic? Unless he means your natural charm.”

“It turns out our boyfriends have lived very similar lives,” Ginny replies. “Prophecies, sworn enemies, battles, that whole thing.” 

“Hey, you did the battles too,” Harry interjects. 

“There’s always enough fighting between good and evil for everyone, isn’t there?” and Harry wonders who Annabeth’s godly parent is but decides it’d be rude to ask. “What have you been up to in Athens so far? The city’s amazing, isn’t it?”

“I think Ginny wants to move here,” which isn’t a lie.

Annabeth’s illuminated, her eyes shining as she launches into everything great about the city and it’s hard to imagine her being more enthusiastic about anything, including Rome. “It’s so good being able to talk to people about this who a: can understand the magic side and b: aren’t sick of me going on about it,” Annabeth says, Ginny nodding enthusiastically along. 

“Jason accidentally fell asleep _one time_ ,” Percy cuts in, handing around beers. “He’d had a busy day. I thought it was too early for shots -- what are your plans for dinner, Harry, Gin?” 

Ginny’s hand is on his knee as she listens and listens to Annabeth wax lyrical about architecture and underground passages and barely pauses to agree to dinner before she’s launching into the wonder of Hogwarts.

Harry leans forward and asks Percy is his entry into his new magical world was as bumpy as his half-giant story.

  
  


.

  
  


“Back from the _dead_ ?” Percy whistles, glancing at Annabeth who’s watching Harry, grimacing slightly. “You’ve got us beat there. Closest we got was being stuck in Tartarus, wasn’t it, babe? You have to meet Nico -- he’s the son of Hades, lil creepy before you get to know him -- what? I said before you get to know him! Annabeth, he has a _skeleton_ army.” 

  
  


.

  
  


“I can’t believe you missed half your exams and our drama always conveniently happened in the summer,” Percy groans. 

  
  


.

  
  


A summer camp for kids like them sounds like something that should be happening in Britain, Harry thinks. For kids whose homes are dangerous, for ones who can’t be themselves outside Hogwarts, for ones who just need a place to be safe, to be around their friends. 

He knows McGonagall would support it; he knows there would be enough volunteers.

  
  


.

  
  


The sun is setting and they’ve finished their food as the conversation bubbles into the aches in their shoulders of holding the world’s fate in their hands. Harry had clocked the matching grey streaks in Percy and Annabeth’s hair and is desperate to know more -- could never have expected they literally carried the world on their shoulders as the answer.

They listen to tales of lost memories and the underworld and share their own, where they lost their education to protecting younger students from killers, where they had price tags on their heads for betraying the government. 

They all manage a wry laugh that it always sounds cooler all said in a row like that, when their lives are no longer at risk. 

Harry shares his soul story for the fourth time in his life, confident that they won’t look at him with disgust, that it’s all too easy for them to get their head around an evil like that, when they’ve fought mother nature herself. 

There’s melancholy in the air as they mourn childhoods lost to monsters and quests and so much torture and death, knowing that they all had a thrill in the adventure, that they’re all old before their times. Too many lives lived by the end of their teenage years.

  
  


.

  
  
  


That night as they lie in bed, Ginny puts her head on Harry’s chest, her hand flat above his heart, and they breathe together, heads full of their day. 

“You never tell anyone about the Horcruxes,” she whispers.

“It felt right,” Harry murmurs, immediately wonders --

“It was brave -- you made the right call.”

  
  


.

  
  


The rest of the week hurtles past in tours led by Annabeth, Quidditch briefings, and shared scars and horror stories. There are some overlaps in their histories and in their differences they find shared connections, shared understanding. They have their own groups of survivors in their respective worlds but it’s overwhelmingly comforting to find other people like them, who don’t know everything about what they’ve gone through, but they know a hell of a lot. It’s a fresh perspective and one Harry finds he desperately needed. 

  
  


.

  
  


Harry learns Athena is Annabeth’s mother and isn’t surprised in the slightest. They follow her around, her enthusiasm infectious, and he briefly thinks Ginny might leave him for her.

  
  


.

  
  


(He voices this in their bed and she grins and says she’s thinking about it, reminding him he can barely take his eyes off Percy.

“That’s different -- he’s basically _me_.”

“Didn’t stop you ogling him in his trunks,” and Ginny giggles until Harry kisses her quiet and neither of them deny that yeah, they’re probably a little bit in love with this crazy other world couple.)

  
  


.

  
  


Their last morning comes too quickly as they stand outside their hotel to say goodbye. 

Percy explains Iris messaging because he and Annabeth can’t Apparate and he can’t fly and he hands them a few tokens that look similar to Galleons. 

“You should come visit New York,” Annabeth says, stepping in and hugging Ginny and then Harry. “You need to see camp -- I know you play Quidditch now, I know you don’t want blood and battles and I don’t blame you in the slightest. But I think you should see this safe space.”

“And my mom could do with seeing another kid like me who survived into adulthood,” Percy says. He squeezes Harry, picks up Ginny, spins. “

“Sometimes I can’t believe we made it to twenty,” Harry voices that quiet beat from the back of his brain. 

Percy nods, and Harry knows he’s had that same weird guilt in his chest since he was seventeen. “We’re the lucky ones, believe it or not.” 

  
  


.

  
  


“We’ll see you soon,” everyone promises, everyone desperate to keep this up when they’re not surrounded by ancient magic and tourists, and Harry and Ginny disapparate with a _crack,_ drachmas clutched in their hands and their hearts lighter.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
